


The Kiss of Her First Love

by dandelionsknight



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Some angst, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), takes place in the aftermath of episode 8, the inherent romance of being partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29384025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelionsknight/pseuds/dandelionsknight
Summary: Ruby is on the driveway, head bowed as if praying or just too heavy to hold up, her outline cast in silver. The shattered moon hangs above her like it might envelop her in the curve of its crescent. This is the last place she belongs. She looks pale, the pink flush drained from her cheeks, the shine absent from her eyes. Shoulders hunched, she’s folded in on herself, like a flower no longer seeking out the light. Weiss wishes she could give her some sun-drenched place to flourish in. But she’s not sure a place like that exists for them anymore.*Ruby thinks she can save them all on her own, and Weiss reminds her there's nothing they can't do if they do it together.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, whiterose - Relationship
Comments: 8
Kudos: 92





	The Kiss of Her First Love

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't stop listening to [Out Like a Light by Ricky Montgomery & the Honeysticks](https://open.spotify.com/track/7yR5ZDif2glYMnFP73uRMm?si=yu9YldhvQyqraTA25EH8qg) when I wrote this. no particular reason, just had the right vibes, so I'm sharing it if you also want to vibe with it.

Weiss steps out of the doors of Schnee Manor and catches falling flecks of white on her palm. Snow, now that Atlas’s atmosphere is failing. Or ash, from the explosions rumbling on the horizon. With her other hand, she tucks a small pin, a silver snowflake with tiny rubies sparkling on each point of it, into her pocket. A gift from her mother she’d found in her vanity drawer and polished off.

Her and Blake had taken Penny back upstairs, despite her worrying behavior. They didn’t have a choice; she was still wounded and Klein wanted to stitch her up. None of them had mentioned the gray skeletal hand reaching out of the rubble in the reception hall. Blake is looking after them all now, including her mother and Whitley. Strong, steadfast Blake. Weiss wouldn’t have chosen anyone else, even if she had her pick, to keep an eye on things while she looks for her partner.

Ruby is on the driveway, head bowed as if praying or just too heavy to hold up, her outline cast in silver. The shattered moon hangs above her like it might envelop her in the curve of its crescent. This is the last place she belongs. She looks pale, the pink flush drained from her cheeks, the shine absent from her eyes. Shoulders hunched, she’s folded in on herself, like a flower no longer seeking out the light. Weiss wishes she could give her some sun-drenched place to flourish in. But she’s not sure a place like that exists for them anymore.

“Ruby?”

The look in her partner eye’s is nothing short of haunted, a million miles away. “Weiss…”

“What are you doing out here?” Weiss asks.

Ruby is silent for a long moment, a moment Weiss can’t breathe. “If I go to the whale now…to Salem…maybe I can stop this.”

“Ruby, no –”

“Think about it. I turned the Leviathan to stone. If I use my semblance, just me, I can make it to the Whale. If I can use my silver eyes, then maybe I can stop it.”

Her face is twisted with desperation, convincing herself as much as Weiss with her words. It’s not even the craziest plan Weiss has heard in the last twenty-four hours. That’s the scary part.

“You saw that person’s eyes, didn’t you?” Weiss asks.

“Of course I did.”

“You can’t,” Weiss says. “You can’t go anywhere near Salem. You don’t know what she’ll do to you.”  
Ruby sighs. “If I can end this, I have to try. I _have_ to.”

“Don’t go alone.”

“I’m not taking you or anyone else in that close.”

Ruby could give up her life for this plan. And she would if she thought it would save the people of Atlas and Mantle. The image of it is terrifyingly clear to Weiss, a statue of Ruby Rose standing in the middle of Atlas, for her heroic sacrifice. She wouldn’t look much different than she does now, her face hard and cold as marble.

But Weiss can’t let her. The people of Remnant saw her on that video feed – she’s the symbol of their fight now, the light against Salem’s encroaching darkness. If Ruby were to die, then all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with her. All things soft and beautiful and bright inside _Weiss_ would be buried with her, and it’s that selfishness that makes her step forward, reach out her hand as if to take her partner’s.

“Please don’t do this to me,” Weiss says, and when her voice breaks, it’s the voice of the little girl still inside her who couldn’t even _beg_ someone, anyone, to love her.

Ruby’s eyes search her face, but they’re still so dull, more gray than silver. “I’m doing this for everyone. For Atlas, and Mantle, and our team. And for you.”

The words make Weiss choke down a sob. She has to make her partner see the boundless value of her own life, has to make her know that _she_ is the star they all spin around, the source they pour all the love given to them back to. Weiss would be the worst partner a huntress could ask for if she let Ruby go now, even as she is already turning away, drawing her cloak around herself.

Her partner. Weiss wishes she’d appreciated Ruby from the beginning, wishes Ruby hadn’t had to make her see the beauty of a pair, someone to turn and look back to when she is falling down, a hand to reach out to that would always reach back. In all the carnage, the loss, and the weight of the world, Ruby had forgotten what she’d taught to Weiss: that there is healing in the hope, in the rooting out of all the cynical poison the world tried to inject them with. Her partner had been there for her, even through all the missteps and misery.

Now Weiss would do the same, even as the first spiral of rose petals materializes around Ruby’s feet.

Weiss seizes her partner and kisses her. Later, she’d realize the drama of it all, and even let Ruby make fun of her for it. But in this moment, it’s the most obvious thing to do. It should have been obvious a long time ago.

She kisses her, cupping Ruby’s face, warmth spreading through her veins like the slow trickle of sun through the blinds in the morning, that fluttery feeling blooming in her stomach she’d dreamed about but never thought would be real. Her heart pounds as hard as it had fighting not thirty minutes ago, leaping up into her throat, as she tries not to show it. They’re both a little unsteady, shaky from weak auras and lack of sleep, but Weiss doesn’t care, anchoring herself to Ruby and Ruby to herself.

The moon sheds soft light on them and the kiss is slow, despite the urgency of their situation just outside this moment. In the time where her lips are pressed against Ruby’s though, Weiss lets herself only know this, the kiss of her first love.

Weiss feels warm tears on her hands, feels that Ruby’s cheeks are wet, and the world comes crashing back. Ruby is crying, and Weiss pulls back, looking away and covering her mouth with one hand.

“I’m sorry,” Weiss says. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want it to be like that. I wanted it to be special.”

Ruby takes her hand and lowers it, the other hand coming underneath Weiss’s chin, turning her face back toward hers. She pulls her in by the waist and when they kiss again Weiss almost melts, almost falls apart in Ruby’s arms, but she’s there to catch her.

“Happy tears,” Ruby whispers, in between kisses, “They’re happy tears, Weiss.”

“Oh,” Weiss says, unable to hide the way she smiles into the kiss.

When they stop, they lean their foreheads against each other’s, warm breath still stirring on their lips, hot blood racing through Weiss and skin electrified where Ruby’s hands rest on her waist. She brushes some hair back from Ruby’s forehead, stuck there with sweat and grime that she gently wipes away with her thumb.

“We’re doing this together,” Weiss says, leaning up on her tiptoes so Ruby can take the hint to bend her head down for Weiss to kiss her forehead, “So don’t every try walking out on me like that again.”

Ruby nods. “I won’t. We can still fix this.”

“Only if we do it together.” She pulls the snowflake pin out of her pocket. “Here, I found this in my room. I wanted to give it to you.”

“To me?”

“Yes,” Weiss says. “If you’re ever scared, just touch it, and remember I’m with you.”

She pins it to Ruby’s cloak, over her heart. Ruby brushes her fingers over it and asks, with a weak smile,

“Are these rubies? For _me_ , Ruby? Is that why you gave it to me?” 

Weiss rolls her eyes with a smile of her own. “That’s kind of the point, you dolt.”

She kisses her again, something she’ll probably never get tired of, if they can make it through this endless night and day. Whatever they have to fight through next, Weiss can’t feel too daunted, knowing she can turn and see Ruby next to her.

They’re partners, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> volume 8 episode 8 was the 100th episode of RWBY, and I absolutely loved it. I got the idea for this fic within an hour of watching the episode and have been thinking about it all week until I finally had the time to write it. this fic is a love letter to the show that's helped me through hard times, and always given me a reason to remember that there's healing in the hope.
> 
> thank you for reading, and I have a chocolate chip cookie for anyone who spots the reference to TSOA in here. as always, hang out with me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/dandelionsnight) or [Tumblr!](https://dandelionsknight.tumblr.com/)


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